Step-by-step explanation:
3/4 if the actual length of the shorter segment is 120 ft.
what do I need to multiply 3/4 with to get 1/1 ?
3/4 × x = 1
3 × x = 4
x = 4/3
you feel the aha moment ?
so, when I multiply 120 ft by 4/3 I reverse the "distraction" of showing me only 3/4 of the real thing, and I get the full length of the shorter segment.
120 × 4/3 = 40 × 4 = 160 ft.
and now we know the longer segment is 12 ft longer.
so, it is
160 + 12 = 172 ft long.
so, the equation we just solved was
y = 4/3 × x + 12
with y being the length of long piece, x being the distorted (by factor 3/4) length of the short piece. and 12 is the overall difference between them.
